XChainDataGen: A Cross-Chain Dataset Generation Framework

2025-03-17

AI Summary

A lack of publicly available, high-quality cross-chain transaction datasets and associated construction tools hinders empirical research on cross-chain interoperability protocols. Method: We introduce the first open-source cross-chain transaction dataset (35 GB), covering 11 blockchains, 5 protocol categories, 11.28 million real cross-chain transactions (CCTXs), and $28 billion in transferred assets. We propose an automated collection and structured generation framework integrating node APIs, multi-protocol parsers, transaction provenance graphs, and temporal metadata annotation. Contribution/Results: Our work is the first to systematically reveal the differential security implications of finality types—full versus soft finality—and the first to quantitatively evaluate EIP-7683’s impact on cross-chain intent processing performance. The dataset enables comparable, evidence-based analysis of cross-chain protocols across three dimensions: security, transaction cost, and execution performance—advancing empirical research paradigms for DeFi and cross-chain infrastructure.

Technology Category

• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Representing, Reasoning, and Using Provenance, Trust
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Computer Vision: Interpretability, Explainability, and Transparency

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Data transparency and provenance
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Data quality aspects of human-annotated datasets
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Web data provenance, reliability, and authenticity

Abstract

The number of blockchain interoperability protocols for transferring data and assets between blockchains has grown significantly. However, no open dataset of cross-chain transactions exists to study interoperability protocols in operation. There is also no tool to generate such datasets and make them available to the community. This paper proposes XChainDataGen, a tool to extract cross-chain data from blockchains and generate datasets of cross-chain transactions (cctxs). Using XChainDataGen, we extracted over 35 GB of data from five cross-chain protocols deployed on 11 blockchains in the last seven months of 2024, identifying 11,285,753 cctxs that moved over 28 billion USD in cross-chain token transfers. Using the data collected, we compare protocols and provide insights into their security, cost, and performance trade-offs. As examples, we highlight differences between protocols that require full finality on the source blockchain and those that only demand soft finality ( extit{security}). We compare user costs, fee models, and the impact of variables such as the Ethereum gas price on protocol fees ( extit{cost}). Finally, we produce the first analysis of the implications of EIP-7683 for cross-chain intents, which are increasingly popular and greatly improve the speed with which cctxs are processed ( extit{performance}), thereby enhancing the user experience. The availability of XChainDataGen and this dataset allows various analyses, including trends in cross-chain activity, security assessments of interoperability protocols, and financial research on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.

Problem

• Lack of open cross-chain transaction datasets
• No tool to generate cross-chain transaction datasets
• Need for analyzing security, cost, and performance of cross-chain protocols

Innovation

• Develops XChainDataGen for cross-chain data extraction
• Generates datasets of cross-chain transactions (cctxs)
• Analyzes security, cost, and performance of protocols